26.2.10

Ottawa recently lost an outstanding modern furniture store. Roche Bobois is an internationally renowned, beautiful and inspiring furniture store with very unique pieces. Their stores can be found all over the world in almost 40 different countries! The one in Ottawa was in a great spot in the Byward Market with parking all around it and a great store frontage. Now there's no sign of its existence. It's too bad, because the Ottawa location was the best looking one in Canada. I can't help but wonder "What is wrong with Ottawa?" Anyone knows what happened? Whatever the reason, it's a real shame. I wonder who's coming next. They're are already construction workers in the building.

24.2.10

That's right! This year's show should be interesting as it will include a couple modern design elements amongst other things. Remember last year, I was talking about the good and the bad from my visit and how Bonneville did a great job with the presentation of their home? Well this year they are showcasing a modern bungalow : an adapted version of the Cameleon model (no garage).

I did get a sneak peak at the house and it's really nice. For the Ottawa show, it will be furnished by Home Furniture. I was surprised to see that they do have modern pieces when I visited their store. There isn't a lot of modern pieces on their website. In any case it should be interesting.

Stay tuned for more on the show as I have a bit of an insight this year :) And check out the Ottawa Home & Garden Show's website for more details.

16.2.10

The Dublin Airport is reported to be the busiest airport in the republic of Ireland. There's a lot of neat design elements in this airport. I love the etched glass art. This international airport is currently undergoing a transformation to expand and modernize its facilities. So far, as you can see from the construction pictures and artist renderings below, the transformation is quite spectacular and very futuristic, using curved architecture. What I really like also is the fact that the actual construction resembles the renderings. The interior looks promising as well. I love the blue "box" contrasting with the orange furniture, orange accent wall and white walls.

AMSTERDAM AIRPORT SCHIPHOL

The design of the Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is also amazing. One of the first design elements that greets you as you come in is a glass sliding door with two cute little characters kissing. It seems like there a lot of attention to detail in this design. Notice the ceiling with the round openings for the lights above the mechanical ramp.

I can't forget about the Privium Club lounge, also in the airport. The design is out of this world: Sleek, modern and futuristic. Now, THAT is a VIP lounge!

8.2.10

I'm really happy I was able to attend the launch party for Ottawa Magazine's Interiors 2010 last week. It was great to see so many people with an interest for art and design in the city and discover many great local talents and retail owners in Ottawa (I'll post about them soon). The magazine is packed with beautiful photos of modern homes and furniture pieces. I really believe that Ottawa is on it's way up in modern design! Stay tuned for more.

2.2.10

If you're downtown a lot, you probably noticed this really neat building on 124-126 Rideau street. It's been sitting there lifeless forever. Every since we moved here, we've been looking at that building wondering who owns it? How can we can get our hands on it? It has such great potential! Well, I found out a couple months ago from Spacing Ottawa that it used to be an Ogilvy store. Founded by Charles Ogilvy, it used to be a "phenomenon". At the time, Ogilvy wanted to enhance the shopping experience and the store was designed with great attention to architectural details, lavish interiors and elaborate display windows. What happened?

The building is currently owned by Viking Rideau who, according to a documents from the city, submitted an application to demolish the building and expand the Rideau Centre. But since the building is considered part of Rideau Street's heritage and has been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act, I'm guessing that plan was refused. So nothing happened since 1992. Maybe they're waiting for the building to fall apart on its own... What a waste. If I owned this building, I'd turn it into a loft. It's not like if there are many hard lofts in Ottawa and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who would love to live in one. This building is perfect for a loft: It's in a great location, it has the right character and the history to go with it. The main floor could be used for a few little boutiques as well.

Ogilvy lofts could look a little like this great New York loft, shown below.

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PROFILE

A designer's take on the nation's capital and thoughts on what could be done to improve the city. Discover the good, the bad and the ugly in Ottawa and share your opinions and ideas with Marie, the blogger.